There was a time, not all that long ago, when the use of business analytics was little more than a mundane exercise in CYA. Reports—if they were generated at all, and if they were distributed to more than a few very privileged individuals—would arrive weeks, months, or perhaps quarters after the fact. Most of the information in the reports was Greek, deciphered only by wizened old greenshades kept deep within the bowels of the organization, far away from the people making real business decisions. Most of the information from these systems went straight to tape and was trucked a safe distance away to a dusty suburban warehouse where, I suspect, much of it still resides on groaning metal shelves. But it all had to be done because a company never knew when it was going to need to access the information to prove the value of a project, or placate shareholders, or maybe protect someone's job.
It's a very different scenario today, of course. Business analytics are now a trusted tool for most organizations, and many are turning to technologies like business intelligence, data mining, and predictive modeling to make better business decisions and forecast better outcomes. There's far more emphasis on looking forward and anticipating than on looking back and protecting. And sometimes, analytics are being used not for internal reasons, but for external ones. For example, in this issue, the CIO of PHH Arval describes his fleet-management company's first BI effort as an innovative, outward-looking customer-service initiative, not an internal analytics application. He estimates that the company's InterActive Dashboard application will save clients as much as three workdays each month in downloading and analyzing fleet data.
That example and additional ones you'll read about this month from Harrah's, Dunkin' Brands, and others are a far better use of analytics than simply compiling data to justify past events.
Brian Gillooly
Editor-in-chief
bgillooly@cmp.com
